Wesley Ward Ships Live Chance To Del Mar For Saturday’s Best Pal

When Wesley Ward ships one in – standby. Mr. Ward does not come to play, be it anywhere in the U.S., or Europe, too. The man fires bullets from coast to coast and across the ocean.

Eight times already he's rung the stakes bell at Del Mar and Saturday he's aiming for another gong with a quick 2-year-old colt named Roderick, who ran away and hid from a straight maiden field at Belmont Park in New York on June 21 in his lone outing and – in a lineup that lacks a stakes winner – looks like a solid favorite for the 50th edition of the Best Pal Stakes.

The race, a six-panel spin for juveniles that carries Grade II status and a $150,000 purse, has drawn a field of seven runners and Roderick has drawn post No. 4 and Del Mar's leading rider, Flavien Prat. Ward, the former Eclipse Award winning jockey (top apprentice, 1984), is likely to watch his charge run from his headquarters in Lexington as his west coast guy – trainer Blake Heap – saddles his Into Mischief colt Saturday for his ownership group that goes under the name Breeze Easy.

The local hope with the best chance to outfoot the youthful invader appears to be Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Herd Immunity, a Union Rags offspring who won at first asking in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita in early June, then was shipped to Churchill Downs where he ran third in the Bashford Manor Stakes on June 27. For his go in the Best Pal, the Peter Miller-trained colt will be partnered by Abel Cedillo and break from post No. 5.

Here's the full field (in post position order with riders and morning line odds) for the 2-year-old headliner that is a key prep to the meet's top event for the juvenile set, the Grade I, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Labor Day, September 7:

Strauss, Suarez or Tsukashima's Sonic Brees (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Reddam Racing's Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); Kaleem Shah's Schnell (Ruben Fuentes, 12-1); Roderick; Herd Immunity; Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1), and Altamira Racing Stable's Girther (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1).

Weston, who is trained by Ryan Hanson, broke his maiden in good fashion at Santa Anita on June 21. The Kentucky-bred gelding by the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb, has had three solid works at Del Mar since and gets his chance to step up a notch Saturday.

Girther, also trained by Peter Miller, scored his initial victory in his second start here at Del Mar on July 11, hanging on for a nose tally at five furlongs. He's a Florida-bred colt by the Giant's Causeway stallion Brody's Cause.

The Best Pal will go as the sixth race on an 11-race card that also features the Grade II, $150,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares. First post Saturday is at 2 p.m.

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Rising Star Cazadero Headlines Bashford Manor

Stonestreet Stables homebred Cazadero (Street Sense) looks to make good on his ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy debut in the GIII Bashford Manor S. at Churchill Downs Saturday, the first graded event of the season for juveniles. The Steve Asmussen trainee demolished the field in his five-panel unveiling here, earning his diploma by 8 3/4 lengths May 29, good enough to earn an 81 Beyer Speed Figure. The Hall of Fame conditioner also saddles Hulen (Tapiture), a 1 1/2-length debut graduate beneath the Twin Spires June 12.

Peter Miller ships Herd Immunity (Union Rags) in from California for a shot at black-type. Breaking a step slow in his career bow at Santa Anita June 6, the chestnut fought his way to the front and drove clear to earn his diploma.

Todd Pletcher also makes the trip to Louisville with Hyperfocus (Constitution). The Repole homebred rallied to victory after a slow start in his debut at Gulfstream May 9.

County Final (Oxbow) graduated by four lengths in his unveiling on the turf here June 5 and his pilot James Graham said he thinks the surface switch won’t be an issue.

“I really like that we’ll be the last horse to load in the gate,” Graham told the Churchill media team. “If he breaks well, we’ll be able to see what the other horses to our inside are doing in the early stages. He has speed and he trains well on the dirt. So, the switch fromthe turf to the dirt should be no problem either.”

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